DiSCourse Columnist Barry “Jack” Jenkins keeps close tabs on the Yukon music scene. If you are producing a Yukon CD, please contact him at [email protected]
Brenda Berezan was an aspiring songwriter when she moved to the Yukon wilderness. Having taken a break from music to run a business and raise her family, she has recently returned to performing and recording. She’s now releasing her second album, called Blue Through the Trees. It’s an indie-folk album that veers away from her …
Jonathan Steel, known by his nom-de-rap MC TurMoiL, has released his first CD, Black and Green. He’s also released a video for the album’s hit track, “Mr. Myagi.” I must approach this review with caution, since despite Steel being a friend of mine, his brand of music isn’t. This is entirely my fault: I suffer …
Blues band Black Iron Blossom came out of nowhere. I hadn’t even heard of them before the normally quiet Sam Gallagher stopped me in Mac’s Fireweed Books, told me he’s in a band and asked me to listen to their CD, called Full Moon Over Whitehorse. What I heard completely floored me. With a raw …
A recent arrival in Whitehorse, Patrick Jacobson is already making waves. Having moved from Vancouver just a couple of months ago, Jacobson has released his self-titled debut solo EP of melodic indie guitar rock. Fans of the genre can see him in Whitehorse on July 26 and August 15. You may already be familiar with …
Paris Seymour, better known by her stage name Paris Vagabond Gypsy, is one of a kind. In the year-and-ahalf since the pirate-costumed, bass-playing, ukulele-strumming, singer-songwriter (and one-time burlesque dancer) arrived in the Yukon, she’s formed the Ukes of Hazard and is releasing her first full-length album, Mine to Creep. Born in Vancouver but raised in …
Amelia Merher, also known as the ukulele-slinging songwriter Big Mama Lele, has ambitious plans for her 30th birthday. “I’m putting a new spin on fatbiking,” she says. On May 26, her birthday, Merher kicks off a 16-gig bicycle tour of the Yukon and B.C., including stops in Atlin, Carcross, Haines Junction, and then Vancouver, Surrey, …
Whitehorse-based, Swedish-Canadian songwriter Sarah MacDougall has a new album, Grand Canyon, with some dark, intense lyrics, mixed against pop-inspired folk music. It’s not a departure from her previous music, so much as a progression. MacDougall says, “I think the last album [the West Coast Music Award-winning The Greatest Ones Alive] was on its way to …
Nicole Edwards was raised on the Muppet Show, and she dreamed of duetting with Kermit since she was a kid. As an adult, she decided to make her puppet dreams a reality. She debuted her new video, Lychee Martini, to a packed house at Epic Pizza last month. Diagnosed with scleroderma, an autoimmune disorder that …
It’s that time of year again. The season that we all go a bit funny in the head and start manifesting an unusual disregard for personal budgets and self-awareness.We have all gone off on a spree at one time or another and convinced ourselves that he or she will love this or that, as seen …
The Midnight Sons Band is making a mark on the Whitehorse music scene and is now looking to build a national fan base.
The best album I heard last summer, and probably all year, came out of Dawson City. Hope, the debut album by The Naysayers, totally rocks. Led by singer-songwriter Drea Nasager, the band fuels its folk rock songs with a heavy punk edge. Nasager’s lyrics are sung, snarled, and spat; they mix with Jonathan Howe’s lead …
Listening to Kate Weekes’ new solo folk album, Frost on Black Fur, is like mushing around the vastness of the world at great speed as the scenery constantly changes, from Irish islands, to mountain villages in China, to remote rivers in the Peel watershed. Frost on Black Fur will be released on October 1 at …
Amelia Merhar, better known in the Yukon music scene as Big Mama Lele, ended her Graduation Tour on May 10 in Fairbanks. The occasion? She’s finally graduated university. Those familiar with her “FOMO Song” know why her graduation warrants an international tour. “I’ve been changing the major of my bachelors since 2004,” she jokes. “Ten …
With Kim Barlow’s recent departure from the Yukon, the local music scene appeared to have lost its most well-known singer-songwriter. However, Blue Hibou, Barlow’s collaboration with Hélène Beaulieu and Micah Smith, suggests that we may not know her as well as we thought. Blue Hibou began in 2010 after Beaulieu, a classically-trained guitarist, started taking …
Brandon Issak releasing a new album and travelling to Memphis, Tennessee to participate in the largest blues gathering in the world.
They got together in February, and now The Midnight Sons are heading out of the territory to spread their style of minimalist, rootsy folk-rock across western Canada. Consisting of vocalist and guitarist Alex Johnston, drummer Patrick Docherty and bassist Ian MacIntyre, the trio have been performing steadily around the Yukon since forming The Midnight Sons. …
Son Rise: The Midnight Sons get ready to rock Western Canada Read More »
Vegetarians beware. Whitehorse’s groove-rocking quartet Meat the Vegans has just released their first album, 100% Fat. With a raw punk-inspired sound and graphic artwork to match, it is definitely not Morrissey approved. Consisting of vocalist/guitarist Mike Anderson, guitarist Simon Charles, bassist/vegetarian Alex MacKay and drummer Steve Jacobs, Meat the Vegans plays a combination of punk …
Speed Control is developing a reputation as the hardest working band in Whitehorse. After spending much of the winter performing multiple shows per day, the post-hardcore band has started another tour. These guys have recently quit their jobs – they are committed to making a living in playing their music, a combination of pop punk, …
It is becoming the way of it. Downloading music from the Internet is rapidly taking over how people listen to music. The new reality is a wakeup call to a radio geek like me. Since the primordial epoch of the humble Walkman, the idea of a personal soundtrack to mist you throughout the day with …
Cate Innish is up for a new challenge. As we take down the hand drums she’s been using to accompany Peggy Hanifan at Whitewater Wednesday, Innish and I set up her keyboard so she can take centre stage, singing and playing a mix of jazz standards and country songs. This is something new for her. …
He’s big, he’s bad and he’s back with a new CD. Love him or leave him, you cannot ignore him: Elvis is in the building. A King’s Ransom is a collection of 15 original songs that speak with a powerful voice of the Yukon, love, spirituality and an occasional reference to alcohol. At the core, …
If there were a word to describe Automat6n, it would be “luxuriant”. If you have a taste for simple production, this may not be the CD for you. On the other hand, if you enjoy being slathered in audio butter and look forward to sound weeping from every frequency your speakers can produce, you may …
Like the music of the delta that moved against the flow of the Mississippi and arrived in places like Chicago and Kansas City with blues disciples and refugees with a guitar and a song in their heart, bluegrass in the Yukon is a long, long way from home. Like the blues, bluegrass travels well: it …
I’m calling you out. A great theme and a great refrain from a jam-packed CD from the National Microphone Association, an experiment in collective activism and cooperative creativity. The CD, muse-licks, is a cleverly produced effort that contains 25 tracks from various artists that have come together under the banner of the National Microphone Association. …
Rob Hunter, also known as Roxx Hunter, has been abroad a few times, traveling to Finland, Mali and Oman. Most recently, the globetrotting guitarist spent six months in Shanghai, China, playing in a five-star hotel’s house band.”I first heard about this overseas work from this cool hippie-ish singer named Alex who was working at Unitech,” …
Yukoner Roxx Hunter Lived by his Guitar in China Read More »
Ummagma is a strange combination — a Yukon-Ukrainian collaboration of uplifting ethereal pop vocal mixed with rock guitar. Their music crosses genres between electronic dance music, shoegaze and dreampop and is gaining attention around the world. Ummagma’s music is being played in more than 30 countries, has charted in Scotland and is on the rise …
I should know better than to schedule these interviews for Thursday afternoons, but luckily Seki, a Whitewater Wednesday Jam Night regular, understands. We reinvigorate ourselves with mochaccinos at Baked Café and get down to talking. We start with her name: “Seki is fine,” she says. “No one else has my name. It’s actually my middle …
Summer’s here and the time is right for a musical evening garden party. On Saturday, July 5, Yukon Women in Music are coming out of the bars and concert halls and bringing their music to the deck of the scenic Stehelin Ranch on Couch Road. “The Garden Party is a unique atmosphere because it’s held …
Kyle Cashen, part of the Whitehorse power trio Friend Called Five, has released a long-awaited, full-length CD of original songs under the banner of Crash the Car. A comparison, albeit unfair, to Neil Young’s Harvest album, rose to mind while I was listening to They Built Houses Here for the first time. There is something …
Do you have a good résumé? Now before you send me an e-mail looking for a job, hear me out. In this day and age a good résumé is as important as a passport. I have to admit I have a great résumé. If truth be told, I have several great résumés. I can craft …
It’s been a long time since I was in public school. As I remember, we had a music program … we sang and entered choir competitions and had a great ol’ time. But it was nothing like the North Klondyke Highway Schools has. I know this because of this new CD these schools have produced. …
As I start this article, I should reveal to you that this CD is not for the weak. There is much reference to making merry, but at this time of the season, you must admit, a little revelry is called for. The Whiskeydicks have a new CD out called Get’er Done! and they have an …
George McConkey has a new album out that displays his song writing ability and features some great classic tunes. More on that later, first, a digression. I’m a humble little bit of tin and horn/I’m a byword, I’m a plaything, I’m a jest; The virtuoso looks on me with scorn/But there’s times when I am …
George McConkey Breathes Life Into the Harmonica Read More »
Krystal Dawn, recently returned from touring the North Klondike with Yukon Women in Music, has been gracing musical stages from an early age
As you may know, the poetry of the blues is full of metaphors that allude to acts involving one’s naughty bits. Often lyrics will allude to acts of defiance that, as in the case of Jim Crow-era America, name the oppressor in an ambiguous manner. As to the former, witness if you will a recording …
Watching Ivan Zenovitch play is as exciting as listening to him. His fingers dance across the neck and strings of his guitar in amazingly complex patterns of notes and chords. It’s all the more amazing since Zenovitch is hard of hearing. “My parents are deaf-mutes,” Zenovitch explains over coffee at Baked Café, speaking almost as …
It has been many years since the music I worshipped was at the altar of black and silver. In those days, I had really big hair and a large collection of black T-shirts. Today, while another day older and, like a hard cheese, aging to a desired ripeness, I still have an ear for loud …
Adam Cripps is a “leet” bass player. Best known as the bass player and the “C” of CHS, Cripps can lay down a furious heavy-metal bass line, drive a classic rock song like Foxy Lady or accompany Yukon Jack’s Clint Carpenter.But metal is his true love, in an almost geek-like sense (explaining the “leet” version …
Rap and hip hop has been repudiated by some for being overtly violent and misogynistic. While some of this reputation may be deserved, I think sometimes a cigar is just a smoke. I’m not an expert when it comes to hip hop. I do understand, as with most musical styles that, once popularity sets in, …
Gordie Tentrees has released his third studio album and is planning to celebrate with a tour of northern communities. More of that later, for now let’s get to the CD, Mercy or Sin. For those familiar with his last two releases you will immediately hear two big differences, namely the production and the performance. The …
Sarah MacDougall, who was born and raised in Malmö, Sweden, began her first band at 11. “My friend Sarah and I had a duo called Sarah and Sarah,” MacDougall says, laughing. In 2000, the 19 year-old MacDougall moved to Vancouver and began to take her career more seriously, recording her songs and touring. While playing …
Fawn Fritzen‘s first album, Bedroom Voice, demonstrates what can happen when a talented artist meets an engaging producer. It’s what happened with The Beatles and George Martin, Talking Heads and Brian Eno, or brigs and Jordy Walker. Fritzen is a vocalist, pianist and songwriter who had been performing for eight years when her husband Michael …
Yukon Women in Music (YWIM) have released their fourth album, which is as musically diverse as their membership. Founded in 1998, the YWIM collective brings together female singer-songwriters who pool their talent and resources for concerts and recording opportunities. To date, it has released a live album, a sampler of pre-recorded tracks and a more …
The album gave me a flashback, if these things are possible. The way a smell might trigger a powerful feeling of nostalgia, the sound brought me back to a time when music was a catalyst for possibility, and social change was its focus. There is a lot of funk wrapped in soul on this CD. …
If you were to draw broad strokes, you could say that the music contained on this CD is classic old-time mountain music. The “primer coat” of this CD may be old-time mountain music, but to leave the description there, would be grossly simplistic and leave a false impression of what is contained within these tracks. …
Toe-Tappin’ Tunes from One Generation to Another Read More »
Whitehorse jazz guitarist and vocalist Brenda Lee recently released her first album, a collection of jazz standards, called Five O’ Clock Bells. Originally from Northern Ontario, Brenda Lee Katerenchuk grew up in a musical family. Her father was a professional drummer and her mother was a ballroom dance teacher. She went on to study classical …
Brenda Lee takes on the classics in Five O’clock Bells Read More »
It’s a strange time to start a music label. With the challenges of Internet piracy, online sales on sites like iTunes, and artists offering their music for free or directly marketing their wares to the public, the business of selling physical records could seem obsolete. However, two Yukon entrepreneurs are riding a vinyl renaissance and …
Home-schooled in an outfitters camp, in Swift River, raised in a fundamentalist family and painfully shy, Trevor Dolhan may seem like an unlikely rock star. But listening to him perform on Whitewater Wednesday, singing soulful acoustic folk or “out-Axling” Axl Rose, and you know Dolhan is the real thing. “I’ve come a long way,” he …
Lovers of old-style country music will gather together this month to recreate the golden age of country radio. Singer-songwriter Kim Beggs and music fest organizer Dale Harnish have rustled up country and folk musicians from inside and outside the Yukon for two Grand Ole Northern Opry concert performances on Dec. 20 and 21 at the …
Northern Opry Project takes the Yukon back In time Read More »
Storytelling has always been an integral part of Yukon history and tradition, in all its forms and mediums. That’s why this year, the non-profit Yukon Women in Music (YWIM) chose to make it the theme of their fourth and latest compilation album, “Song Rise”, which was just released in November. Under the common thread, Yukon …
Hank Karr‘s music is a part of the Yukon landscape. It’s only natural that he would present his music on a DVD, where it can be accompanied by images of the landscape and the Yukon culture that he sings about. Following his DVD, Hank Karr‘s Book of Yukon Memories, Karr has released Long Gone to …
With these lyrics from Home, the opening track of Diyet‘s debut album, The Breaking Point, the singer/songwriter from Burwash Landing sets the mood for this CD. She reflects on her hometown, a tiny, remote First Nations community, with its beauty and its struggles. Her community has a tie that brings her back, and is a …
Kim Beggs returned to the Yukon between touring, with a bunch of new songs and a new CD, Blue Bones. In January, Beggs went to Vancouver to record at Black Hen Studio with producer/musician Steve Dawson. “My songs are are based on truth of emotion,” she explains, referring to a marked-up lyric sheet for Firewater …
Singer-songwriter Susie Ross knows about weird dates, so much that she wrote a song about them, First Date, a fan favourite at Whitewater Wednesday Jam Nights. “There is a lot of exaggeration in that song,” she says as we sit down to lunch. “I don’t actually pierce myself for kicks. “I’ve had incredibly weird first …
New venues, new jammers. Since Whitewater Wednesday moved to the Gold Pan Saloon in the Gold Rush Inn, we’ve been impressed by both the veteran jammers who’ve followed the show to its new stage, and with the new ones just finding it. Among the most impressive newcomers is Angi Fraser, both in the strength of …
Sasquatch Prom Date is the great dance party band in Whitehorse. It’s a must for any festival looking for a high-energy closer, and (full disclosure) I’ve been a fan since it started playing. So it was with excitement that I found out I get to review its first CD, A Chilling End to a High …
Ben Mahony’s long-awaited full-length CD, Yukon Love Ghosts, is here. A follow up to his Action/Reaction EP, which was recorded with his band The Big-Eyed Beans from Venus, this new album is a quieter, more mature effort showing off Mahony’s talent as a writer of catchy songs with highly literate lyrics. The songs, written over …
Someone must have hurt Graeme Peters really badly because he’s gone completely emo on us. Emo, for those of you unfamiliar with punk subgenres, is about reaching into your own chest and tearing out the aching heart inside and showing everyone how broken it is. Plus you can dance to it. With Speed Control‘s new …
As Bryan Adams said, “Everywhere I go, the kids want to rock.”Solid Fuel’s first recording is proof of that. Solid Fuel is a band of Yukon middle- and high-school students consisting of Logan Frasher, Ale Peters, Madison Dixon and Ragnvald Royle, and their teacher, the multi-talented Graeme Peters. Having shown the kids how to rock …
I’ve had the pleasure of watching Kim Beggs develop as an artist from the beginning. From her first performances supporting Kim Barlow and Anne-Louise Genest, and a few solo sets at the Whitewater Wednesday Jam, Beggs has grown as a songwriter and singer into a national and international talent. Her new CD,Blue Bones, recorded in …
I don’t normally like country music, but I do make a few exceptions. Kevin Barr is definitely one. Best known as the lead singer of the celebrated Undertakin’ Daddies, Barr is a frequent Whitewater Wednesday jammer. With his hair flying when he’s in the swing of it, he plays traditional country songs with love and …
Speed Control is all about the performance. The Whitehorse pop-punk trio – guitarist Graeme Peters, his brother and bass player Jody Peters and drummer Spencer Cole – give a show that can make anyone take notice. To improve those performance skills, the Peters brothers travelled from Whitehorse (and Cole from Seoul, South Korea) to meet …
To those of us who know her, Nicole Edwards is an amazing person. She has a beautiful smile, a happy demeanour, a warm personality, and a fabulous singing voice. High and soft when she speaks, her voice becomes throaty, huge, expressive and honest when she sings. Sage and Wild Roses, her fourth CD, is my …
I first heard Andrea Burgoyne at the Whitewater Wednesday Jam about two and a half years ago. Since that time, I’ve had the privilege of watching her develop her indie folk style, trying out new songs and adding them to her repertoire. This effort has culminated in her first solo EP as brigs, One Step, …
It’s About the Words / It’s About the Bass and Drums Read More »
Les Walker is back with a new band, Common Knowledge. The former lead vocalist for Fullers Earth progressed to a more radio-friendly alternative rock sound to back his hope-fuelled songs. Common Knowledge consists of Walker (vocals, rhythm guitar, lyrics), along with Clancy McInnis and Lane Currie (guitars). Rounding out the band is a powerhouse hard-rock …
There’s a small rebellion brewing at this week’s Battle of the Bands, sponsored by Bringing Youth Towards Equality (BYTE) in partnership with the Frostbite Music Festival. After the youth bands (30 and under) square off, JJS3 will close the proceedings with a metal set. “By letting us headline after the Battle of the Bands, that …
One of the characteristics of the Whitehorse music scene that I love is the amount of collaboration that goes on. Almost all artists have worked together in one form or another at some time. I love the way they can combine completely different genres than they normally play, experiment and produce something absolutely amazing. Old …
Remy Rodden is best known as a children’s performer and environmentalist, having previously released Think About the Planet, a children’s album. With his new CD, In the Hills, Rodden turns his songwriting talents to more adult topics, sharing his vision of the North with his audience. Rodden has assembled some of the best Yukon musicians …
I wanted to get the story behind BC/DC which is, according to its website, “the world’s third most popular and dangerous band.” The website also warns that they never give straight answers to the press. So after speaking with the lead guitarist, who calls himself MadCow (The Artist Formerly Known as Angus Hung), I may …
Recently at Whitewater Wednesday Jam Night at Foxy’s Cabaret, there was an extra excitement in the air. People crowded inside in eager anticipation, all of them asking, “When is Uncle Touchy getting here?” That particular Wednesday was the first ever public performance by Uncle Touchy, Whitehorse’s latest rock sensation. Fronted by lead electric guitarist and …
Jude Waldman may be a relative newcomer to the Yukon music scene, but as a singer-songwriter he’s already a veteran, playing his folk blues at open mic and songwriter nights. He even wrote and recorded a song a day for 100 days, and released them on his blog. Waldman has toured extensively with the likes …
In the cold of February, Whitehorse is due for some well-deserved warmth from Bahamas. Not from a misdirected trade wind, but from the musical act of that name that’s blowing into town for this weekend’s Frostbite Music Festival. Bahamas is the brainchild of Toronto guitarist and singer Afie Jurvanen, who comes with solid credentials playing …
Luther Wright is coming North next week to hang out with “real” people. This is Wright’s second Yukon visit as frontman for the legendary Canadian alt-country/roots band, Luther Wright and the Wrongs. He was here last year as part of the Home Routes house concert circuit. This year’s venues are different. “This tour is primarily …
Gordie Tentrees doesn’t stand still for long. Hot on the end of his Scandinavian tour (captured live on Naked in Scandinavia), Tentrees is heading on the road again, this time in support of his new album, North Country Heart. With that constant touring, Tentrees hones his skill, becoming a sharper songwriter and observer of life, …
Foxy’s All Star Musical Food Drive includes a line-up established and up-and-coming bands of diverse musical styles.
Have you ever had a relationship so intense that you have to live on opposite sides of the country? If you have, you’ll understand why the Yukon’s Kim Barlow, a renowned cellist and banjo player, likes to keep 8,000 km between her and her Spring Breakup collaborator, former Ontarian now Newfoundland resident Matthias Kom, the …
With the release of his new album, Rich in Every Way, Daniel Halen shows just how much a musician can accomplish on his or her own. Recorded largely by himself in his home studio, the CD features Halen performing all instruments and vocals on all but one track. Most of the songs have a soft, …
Brandon Isaak is known as a hard-working, hard-rocking blues showman. Whether he’s playing with his Vancouver-based jump band The Twisters or at the Gold Pan Saloon with The Whitehorse All-Star Blues Band, Isaak delivers a high-energy and high-intensity performance. He makes his electric guitar scream and cry, laying out a danceable groove. But with Bluesman’s …
I should start this off with a declaration of my prejudice: I don’t get heavy metal music. For me, bluegrass is faster, punk angrier, indie folk and rock edgier, Joy Division heavier, Nick Cave darker, and for pure noise, you can’t beat Sonic Youth and Throbbing Gristle. As for heavy metal, I can barely tell …
There’s a new sound on the Whitehorse folk recording scene: the august arrival. Formed in 2009, the band band consists of Sarah MacDonald on vocals, her husband Phil MacDonald on bass, Michael Vandermark on guitars and Dorothy Williams on violin. Together they form an acoustic-driven folk band with a unique sound. On their debut EP, …
I don’t know Sarah MacDougall well. Somehow our paths haven’t crossed. But after listening to her new CD, The Greatest Ones Alive, that will have to change. She’s someone I’d like to know better. So I’ll have to rely on her CD to speak for her. And since the first words on this album are …
It seems like an unlikely pairing: Grant Simpson (jazz musician, vaudevillian and musical director of the Frantic Follies for over 30 years), and Kate Weekes (young hippie, folksinger and member of the traditional country swing trio Home Sweet Home). He plays swing and ragtime, tickling ivories in the style of Fats Waller, while she models …
On his new CD, Down Home, Ryan McNally really is back home. After rocking out with his rockabilly band, Sasquatch Prom Date, and fusing folk and electronica in his collaboration with Kyle Cashen, McNally returns to his true love, the blues. Although he assembled a backing band of some of the best musicians in the …
Home Sweet Home is a new band with an old sound. Made up of three very talented Yukon musicians, Boyd Benjamin, Keitha Clark and Kate Weekes.
Gordie Tentrees was one of the first Whitewater Wednesday jammers I ever saw. Back in 2000, shortly after I moved to Whitehorse, Tentrees was still finding himself. But after a couple years of dedication and perseverance, he became a great player and singer-songwriter, taking inspiration from folk country legends such as Fred Eaglesmith and John …
As the temperature drops, Yukoners have to fight off the urge to either hibernate or escape to warmer climes. That’s why it’s good that Willie and Lobo, violinist Willie Royal and guitarist Wolfgang “Lobo” Fink, are bringing their high-energy world beat music to the Yukon Arts Centre. The two master musicians play Gypsy-inspired dance music, …
Amelia Merhar plays different kinds of metal. Last year she fronted an all-female heavy metal band, Carnal Romance. Now, in her persona of Big Mama Lele and the Juicy Jugs, she’s released her first demo CD, Letters are Better, a collection of songs she performs on a metallic resonator ukulele. Merhar packaged the CD as …
Royal Wood looks cool—hair slicked back, dressed in vest, tie, white shirt. He has a voice to match, a slick, smooth voice that’s soft, yet full. He’s also a versatile musician, moving between piano and guitar. Wood is an acclaimed songwriter who has been compared to Rufus Wainwright, Hawksley Workman and Ron Sexsmith. In 2010, …
Kevin Quain is one Mad Bastard. That is, he’s the singer of the Toronto-based blues-jazz cabaret band The Mad Bastards, the resident band at that city’s landmark Cameron House for a remarkable 16 years. As a singer-songwriter, Quain performs husky-voiced, alcohol-soaked lyrics, ranging from Rain Dogs-era Tom Waits crossed with Celtic folk (“Mr. Valentine’s Dead”), …
Buddy Tabor, from Juneau, Alaska, is a great friend of the Yukon music scene. He’s performed at countless festivals, collaborated with local musicians and his songs are frequently covered live and on recordings. So when Tabor was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, local musicians jumped to help. A benefit concert was quickly organized where artists …
After years of playing on street corners and in cafés and honky-tonks, Mikel Miller drifted into Whitehorse in the 1980s. With music inspired by Phil Ochs, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, he’s performed his variety of acoustic folk music through Canada and Alaska and found a home in the Yukon. …
The Kim Beggs and Natalie Edelson duo, The Blue Warblers, has landed the two singer-songwriters a West Coast Music Award nomination in an unlikely category: Contemporary Christian/Gospel Recording of the Year, for their album, Pretty Good. This nomination reflects the genre of music, not the inspiration. Most of the songs on the album are standards …
There used to be a band in Whitehorse called Scotch. It was a party band, centred around brothers Ryan and Declan O’Donovan. But in the natural course of bands and families, the members moved on. Declan now divides his time between Whitehorse and Montreal, and is about to release his self-titled solo album. But this …
There are three ways to get a CD made. The traditional way is to pay your dues, playing live and building up your experience and renown, and applying for grants to cover some of the costs. For those who can afford it, you can build your own studio and record yourself. But the way that everyone dreams of …
Nicholas Mah plays guitar with a grace that seems effortless. Although it might seem out of place that Mah is playing classical and Spanish guitar music in Flipper’s Pub on Whitewater Wednesday, he still captures his audience’s attention. Rick Sward of the Sophisticated Cavemen sits next to me, watching in awe. “He shreds on that …
Ben Mahony is on a roll. Backed by Rob “Roxx Hunter” Hunter on electric guitar and Ian March on drums, Mahony is cycling through an insane series of cover songs that includes Don’t Fear the Reaper, Whole Lotta Love, Prove My Love, Play That Funky Music and Sweet Child of Mine. He shifts into a …
